Being a Christian in the Middle Ages. Review on: Jean Verdon «Être chrétien au Moyen Âge» (Paris, 2018)

Pavel Valentinovich Krylov PhD in history, leading researcher, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of History (Petrozavodskaya ulitsa, 7, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 197110)
pavel_kryloff@mail.ru

Krylov P. V. Being a Christian in the Middle Ages. Review on: Jean Verdon «Être chrétien au Moyen Âge» (Paris, 2018), Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2019, vol. 8, pp. 406–411

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2019-00019

Language: Russian

The review analyses the  book of  the French historian-medievalist and religious scholar Jean Verdon, dedicated to the religious everyday life of the Western Middle Ages. It is shown that the author creates a picture of the life of European society at that stage of development, when every man from his or her birth till death, obeyed the Roman Catholic Church. The author demonstrates excellent knowledge of the narrative and documentary sources, making his own text more bright, and his research appears quite reliable because of the statistical calculations. The narration develops according to a strict plan, and the reader receives information on a chain of questions: how a newborn Christian was taken into fellowship with the Church; how the parish was arranged; what instructions it received; how the church year and other time periods and cycles were arranged; how the Church influenced on the family life; what veneration of shrines, prayer, repentance and charity were on practice; how the Church institutions formulated and transmitted to a believer social ideals and directed him to holiness. The only serious drawback of the monograph is clearly complimentary attitude to the Church institutions, whose role in the humanization of a wide range of  human relationships, in  particular in  preaching of  the ideas of social piece, the author constantly emphasizes. In addition, Jean Verdon avoids expressing opinions regarding the Church proceedings and court, in particular the Inquisition. The book may be recommended to anyone interested in history of religion and problems of religious daily routine.

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Key words: Robert Ciboule, Eudes de Sully, everyday life, community, prayers, sermons, The Great Schism

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/en/krylov-2019-en/

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Godliness with сontentment: The significance of сontentment for Martin Luther’s understanding of society

Robert Kolb,professor emeritus, Concordia seminary in St. Louis (Seminary Place, 801, Saint Louis, USA, MO 63105)

kolbr@csl.edu

Kolb R. Godliness with Contentment: The Significance of Contentment for Martin Luther’s Understanding of Society, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2017, vol. 6, pp. 168–181.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2017-00009

Language: English

The article explores the Luther’s understanding of human life and his social ethics. The author concludes that in Luther’s very personal world contentment, as an expression of faith, made it possible for believers to risk what God gives them to serve others and create an orderly society. Contentment is the enemy of social unrest as well as personal dissatisfaction and unsettledness. Mutual service eliminates the need for rebellion and mutual love eliminates the desire for personal security or gain by exploiting others. Luther’s insistence on fulfilling the assignments God has called individuals to perform prevented social quietism and encouraged active participation in all aspects of life in the home, the workplace, society, and the congregation of Christ’s people.
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Key words: callings, Ockham, sermons, human life, society, ethics

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/kolb-2017-en/

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Lutheran preaching and drama: an attempt at a comparative typology

Zinaida Andreevna Lurie PhD-student, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya linia, dom 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034), z.lurie@spbu.ru; zlourie@gmail.com

Lurie Z. A. Lutheran preaching and drama: an attempt at  a comparative typology , Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2015, vol. 4, pp. 234–249.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2015-00011

Language: Russian

The article deals with formal and thematic peculiarities of the Lutheran sermon in its evolution as a prototype of other didactic genres. Biblical drama that appeared soon after the Reformation as  independent and prevailing type of dramatic works was in many aspect a rhetorical genre. That allows to make a consistent comparison between sermon and drama in the early Lutheran tradition. The author shows that thematically both literature genres were aimed at preaching of Law and Gospel. Ethical, political and social problems (ordo ecclesiasticusordo politiciis, ordo oeconomicus) composed an important part of confession didactic, especially, in Melanchton interpretation. However, they were valuable only in the light of Apocalyptical consciousness. All loci that were typical for the Lutheran sermon and, for example, were named by Melanchton in the Augsburg confession of 1531, also appear in dramatic works. Speaking of formal features, logic and structure, biblical drama seem to be orientated as well on the rhetorical model of Melanchton (epitrepticumparaeneticum and genus didascalicum) that fit the homiletical aims. All this make possible with more certainty to speak about Biblical drama as a part of phenomenological confessional model, reflected mainly in Luther Biblical translation and commentary.
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Key words: Melanchthon, Luther, confessionalisation, the Bible, Sixt Birck, Joachim Greff, Paul Rebhun, Tomas Naogeorgus, preaching, sermons, drama, theater

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/lurie-2015-en/

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